There are no less than six proposals to build new coal-burning power plants in Michigan, and getting any one of them to start moving dirt would be a virtual lock to employ hundreds or thousands of construction workers for months on end.

But substantial construction on any of those plants is years away – if they ever happen. The delay is due primarily to the administration of Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, whose Department of Environmental Quality has major concerns about the polluting effects of coal burning, and has questioned the need for the construction of two of the plants that are farthest along in the permit process.

An Oct. 6 rally brought 2,500 to 3,000 building trades workers to the steps of the State Capitol Building in Lansing, in an effort to push the Granholm Administration approve air quality permits so the process of constructing two of the plants can go forward. “So far, we have heard nothing from the Granholm Administration about the status of the permits,” said Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Devlin. “Constructing these plants could have been our own economic stimulus, but the governor obviously has other opinions.” 

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Granholm is turning the ship of state into the direction of greener alternatives like solar power and windmills, in the hopes that use of those energy sources and luring production of associated hardware in those industries will be the economic panacea Michigan needs.

On Nov. 4, at an American Wind Energy Association conference in Detroit, Granholm said: “Today, as our nation faces the challenges of combating climate change and reducing our dependence on foreign oil, Michigan again is ready to serve. We are ready to be the arsenal of clean energy for the United States and the world.”

The governor said Michigan has more than 70 companies involved in wind manufacturing, and “is well-positioned to be a leader in wind energy manufacturing given the state’s manufacturing talent and infrastructure and its geographical location which enables wind products to be shipped via the Great Lakes.” She added that the state is helping the wind industry in areas such as capital acquisition, job-training, and research.  “Wind companies looking for a great place to invest need to come to Michigan,” she said.

Granholm is gambling that the promise of windmills and solar production will somehow supplement the guaranteed jobs that would be made available by coal-based power plant construction – and the increased permanent workforce that would follow. But elsewhere, the early returns on the economic impact of the domestic production of wind-related hardware aren’t promising.

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In Michigan, while there are no guarantees, importing an out-of-state workforce for the anticipated 17 million man-hours at the proposed new $2 billion powerhouse at Consumers Energy’s Karn Weadock site near Bay City is highly unlikely. Consumers has a history of hiring Michigan tradespeople, and has pledged to do so in the future.

The owners proposing to build the $1 billion Wolverine Power Cooperative coal-burner in Rogers City have similarly pledged to hire local workers.

But elsewhere it’s a different story with wind power. Three separate reports on wind-related production, jobs, and economic policy were published in recent weeks, and it all adds up to some major question marks about how our tax money is being spent– and whether the promise of jobs in the promising wind industry isn’t just a lot of hot air. In any event, at the moment, it doesn’t seem to matter who is in charge in Washington when it comes to outsourcing jobs.

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So far, when it comes to wind power production, federal stimulus money is mostly stimulating the Chinese.

On Oct. 30, the Wall Street Journal reported the news that a Chinese firm will be the exclusive supplier to one of the largest wind-farm developments in the U.S. and that the developer of the project would be seeking U.S. taxpayer assistance. The 36,000-acre West Texas development announced that it would purchase 240 2.5-megawatt wind turbines – from Shenyang Power Group, a five-month-old alliance with operations in China.

“But while the U.S. has poured money into renewable energy through tax credits and other subsidies, China has positioned itself to reap many of the benefits by ramping up its export machine,” The Journal report said.

Alliance for American Manufacturing Executive Director Scott Paul wrote in a Nov. 2 letter to President Obama: I am deeply concerned that if not done properly, our efforts to rejuvenate our manufacturing base in this country could be unseated by subsidized imports from countries seeking to capitalize on new demand for clean energy products in the United States, such as wind turbines and solar panels.

He continued: “I was shocked to learn of the massive 36,000-acre West Texas wind farm development that will rely solely on wind turbines manufactured in China. The developer will be seeking federal tax credits and support from the Stimulus package. According to an Oct. 30, 2009, article in the Wall Street Journal, “the project should create 2,800 jobs – of which 15% would be in the U.S. The rest would flow to China, where Shenyang employs 800 people.”

Paul continued: “This story is a clear sign that our current approach to building a new sustainable clean energy manufacturing base in this country is completely inadequate. The American people support investments in infrastructure and clean energy that will pave the way to a new economy and the creation of American jobs.

“Furthermore, 84 percent of Americans backed a strong Buy America requirement in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. With this in mind, it is an outrage to read that our efforts to create jobs here at home are instead resulting in the creation of jobs in China and elsewhere. Put simply, if this project seeks federal assistance, the wind turbines should be manufactured in the United States.”

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Agreed, said Natasha Chart, of the AFL-CIO-backed OurFuture.org. “Wind energy is supposed to be able to create thousands of manufacturing jobs, but unfortunately the early wind energy manufacturing jobs financed by U.S. stimulus money have all gone to overseas manufacturers,” she said.

Chart added: “The U.S. needs to support its own industries, particularly those with significant environmental benefits, without apology. The U.S. government has a bad attitude towards manufacturing and has favored the making of money over the making of things for a long time, the more complicated the scheme, the better.”

Spain and China were cited as countries that are well ahead of the U.S. in windmill manufacturing. In Spain’s case, their government supports windmill manufacturing through the use of mandates for customers paying higher rates for renewable energy.

One area where the U.S. and the rest of the world will have to move gently with China is the manufacture of so-called rare earth elements. China accounts for 93 percent of the world’s output of two of these elements, dysprosium and terbium, which are vital in the manufacture of magnets for wind turbines. Chart said the Chinese government won't allow the materials to be sold on the open market like other commodities – allowing them to corner the market on the production of windmills – which has prompted a pending U.S. complaint before the World Trade Organization.

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Steelworkers Union President Leo Gerard summed things up, although his job estimates are a little different.

“Taking candy from a baby: A consortium of Chinese and American companies goes to Washington and announces plans to build a $1.5 billion windmill farm in West Texas using $450 million in U.S. stimulus funds, which will create 2,330 jobs – 2,000 of them in China.

“The baby – Washington – doesn't cry or whine or spit in the consortium's face. That's what's really wrong with this story.

“So accustomed to being bought and sold, Washington simply begins processing forms so it can hand over your tax dollars to create jobs in a turbine factory in the city of Shenyang, China at a subsidy of $193,133 each.

“It's like these bureaucrats live in Wonderland. Or an America where the unemployment rate isn't 10.2 percent. Or where 40,000 American manufacturing facilities didn't disappear in the past decade. Or where banks didn't repossess nearly a quarter million American homes in the past three months.

“We've got a message for Washington: ‘Hell no!’ We're not giving tax dollars to China. What's wrong with these businesses and our government? It is the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It's not the Chinese Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“It's bad enough that we've off-shored our factories and technology and jobs over the past 20 years. We're not off-shoring our Stimulus cash too. In fact, we're tired of serving as the schoolyard wimp of the world. We need our own industrial policy so we can stand up and compete in the world market manufacturing the likes of wind turbines. And we need it now.”